Chapter 21 :: Ice Guy

She frantically clasped the bottom of the opening with her hands but it was too slick to hold onto. For a brief moment, she looked down below her to see the extremely pointed icicles growing larger and larger as she moved down further. It all seemed to be happening so fast, but nothing ran through her mind. Ryu and Byre stood in awe for the moment she passed by the opening. Time seemed to be moving extremely slowly now, and she saw Byre's yellow arm extending out towards her. His face was stone cold, but his eyes were widened with fear. She heard him yell her name and its eerie echo throughout the room. She raised her arm up to meet his, and clasped onto it for her life. As she slammed into the wall, time started going at normal speed again.

"Oh, thank goodness" he said with a relieved sigh.

"That was way too close" said Ryu, and he helped Byre pull up Sori into the opening.

"I don't know what happened" said Sori. "I just...I—"

"It's alright" said Byre. "You're alright, and that's what matters." The adrenaline of the near-death experience was wearing off, and she felt an immense wave of warmth after he said that.

"Thanks" she replied, blushing a bit as she wiped some snow off of herself. They continued walking, and the hallway grew wider and wider as they did. It also climbed higher and higher in several different stairways that spiraled up from within the mountain. Everything was quite ornate and all completely made in ice.

"This place really is a palace" said Byre.

"Yeah. Why is it here though? Does anybody even live here?" said Ryu.

"Maybe they did long ago. Merlon said there was a room with a star ship in it. That's got to be pretty ancient right?" said Sori.

"I just hope nobody lives here anymore..." said Byre. Up ahead was another large room, but it was completely empty. There were no reflective walls, openings, or anything. Just a completely white, icy room.

"Okay, so what's the gimmick with this room?" said Ryu.

"Beats me" said Sori. "Maybe we should have taken the other path back where it split off?"

"I hope not" said Byre. "There's no way we could jump back up through the floor in that last room." They all started wondering if they were trapped.

"Okay, okay, no need to get nervous here" said Sori. "Maybe what Merlon said still applies. Maybe we need to have faith in ourselves...again."

"Oh, that was an analogy with the reflection thing earlier? I completely missed that" said Ryu.

"Faith in ourselves...faith in ourselves" muttered Byre. He thought about himself, what he lacked faith in. I lack faith in myself in general, he thought. No, that's not true. Not as much now than before. He thought about Sori again, how he wished he could just bring himself to tell her how he felt. But like always, it was a battle against himself. No matter how hard he tried, he'd end up shutting himself down before even giving her the chance. It was easier that way. No complications. No heartbreak. Everything stayed within his mind. The impenetrable fortress, at least in regards to his true, deep emotions.

Ryu thought similarly about what he lacked faith in. He couldn't think of anything. I'm confident, I'm in control, and I know what I'm doing. Then he thought about what he had just thought. He knew he wasn't humble. He knew that he wasn't super bright. Those things never really mattered to him much, so it never had really occurred to him. He remembered the challenges in Boo Mansion, where he was so scared. He never told the others, because he was embarrassed by his lack of control. He felt shame for not being able to tell them that.

Sori knew exactly what she lacked faith in. She lacked faith in her judgment, her ability to assess a situation. Too often her emotions got in the way of something and clouded her ability to make the right decisions. In a pinch, she was smart enough to pull through but not always. She thought back to the eruption, the blooper, and when Byre was knocked out by the chain chomp. All of those times, she was too scared to do much of anything. She would never show it, though. Like Byre, she was a master of disguising her inner emotions.

Suddenly, they heard a loud boom, and the floor began to tilt to one direction. "What's going on?" said Byre, stumbling to keep his balance as the floor tilted further.

"Get to the door!" said Ryu. They scrambled to get back to the door, but it was too late. They tumbled down under the tilted floor and into an ice chute. Sori and Byre came down first, and Ryu came down a few seconds later. They slid downwards gaining speed, but soon the chute leveled out and they stopped sliding in an icy cavern. The walls of the cavern were a dark blue color, and there was barely any light. Further down, there was a light, but before either of them could say a word, Ryu came sliding down after them, knocking all of them down to the next portion of the chute.

Andy was walking along the hallway. He had heard the thud of the doors closing earlier, so he walked briskly through the ice tunnels. He had taken the path on the right, and it seemed that his hopes of the yoshis taking the left path had come true. After a while, the ice paths led to an actual building built into the mountain. He opened the door and inside was a long, icy carpet leading to another door. After traversing through several rooms, he came out the backside of the building to an icy alcove with a bridge leading up to a circular area with icy decorations and sculptures surrounding it. He walked into the center, and admired the view. He wondered where the yoshis had ended up, or what they were doing. Have they found the star ship? Did I take the wrong path? How should I have known to take the left path if that was the right one? It all seemed too easy, as he hadn't run into a single problem all the way up to where he was now. He went back to the back entrance and tried the door. It was locked. No, this can't have happened. A cold, icy breeze swooshed quickly behind him.

"What's going on" he said audibly. There was no answer, but another icy chill whispered through the air.

"What business do you have in my Palace?" said a voice. Andy didn't answer.

"I repeat myself. What business do you have here?"

"None of yours, now let me out!"

"Any business in my palace is my business." A being appeared right in front of him. He wore a semi-transparent blue coat and had only eyes for a face. His crown was ice with sharp, pointed edges. Above and around him was a swarm of razor-sharp ice shards, swirling rapidly.

"I am the Crystal King, and you'll pay for your insolence." Andy didn't seem fazed.

"Alright. Bring it on, Ice Guy" he replied as he swung his fists around his chest. The Crystal King raised up his arms, and the swarm of ice shards shot towards Andy and swirled around him, gradually getting closer to his body. Now they started to hit his cloak, tearing it as they shot past him. He tried to get out, but his arm was caught briefly in the flurry of shards and they ripped the cloth to pieces. He had no idea what to do, and realized his hopelessness.

"Please! Please, don't do this!" he pleaded. He immediately thought back to when he beat up the other Bandit many years ago and how he pleaded in the same exact way. At this moment, he wished he could take it all back – beating up the Bandit, stealing from people, and even getting mixed up with the group of yoshis looking for the treasure. Why am I like this? Why can't I just live a normal, happy life? The ice shards continued to swirl around him. They were starting to sting.